buy a car in seattle or iowa? (Auburn, Des Moines: sales, apartment)

[seakid]

I'm relocating from Iowa to Seattle, I was wondering if people had an opinion on buying a car in Iowa or seattle. I know this isnt' an iowa forum or car forum.

But hoping somebody would know ...

I plan to buy a new car, to go with my new job and new apartment

I've heard Washington has no state tax, will buying a car be cheaper than other places in the US? Also, if a buy someplace else, will I have to re-register in WA?

[allforcats]

Congratulations on rolling in money! Are you looking to adopt anyone...??

Washington has NO INCOME TAX, state or city. So to get money, we have a substantial SALES TAX, of close to 9% varying with location within the state. If your current location has a lower tax, would that be part of your answer?

If you do buy a car out of Washington, and your primary residence is in Washington state, you definitely will have to re-register the car here, and if the car is more than 5 years old it will have to have an emissions test. See the following thread for all the info:
//www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...n-testing.html

[LookingtoLeave]

It's the sales tax you need to look at and find out what they are for vehicle purchases, which may differ from other items. For example, the local sales tax in SA, TX is 8.25%, yet the tax for vehicle purchases in TX is 6.25% across the board. Not only that, but are you trading in a car? Believe it or not, some states have tax deductions for trade-ins.

[scirocco22]

Good responses so far.

Yes, it's the sales tax you're up against as far as comparing where to buy the car. My assumption is that you're going to pay less sales tax in Iowa than in Seattle. As allforcats has stated, you're going to have to pay almost 9% on the purchase price in King County.

If by chance, your sales tax rate is higher in Iowa than it is in Seattle, you can either wait until you're in Seattle to buy the car or buy the car in Iowa and ask that they give you an "out-of-state exemption" on the tax. They won't charge you Iowa sales tax but give you a permit to drive the car to the state you are relocating to where you'll have to pay the sales tax (sometimes called a use tax) at the time you register the car.

But, as we're saying, it's probably going to be less expensive to buy the car in Iowa, pay the sales tax there and then re-register the car when you arrive in Washington. If you buy the car and don't register it in Iowa because you're going to leave immediately, as long as you can show you've already paid sales taxes in another state, you won't be responsible for paying Washington state for any more taxes. Some states will make you pay the difference in the tax rates between locations but I don't think that's the case in WA but somebody may have to correct me on that.

[70Ford]

Just to throw this out there..but I saw a guy registering his car in Auburn...when I was registering mine....and he didn't have anything showing that he had paid some sort of tax....and for some God - knows- why reason he chose to pay it - again - when he registered.

If I recall, she offered him the choice of going and finding something showing he had paid the tax, but he declined.
He got more than a few stares.... because.....I think it was around $2000 bucks he paid to register his car.

I was like, "What?"

"Wow!"

[chris]

My guess, the person might have bought the car in OR (no sales tax) and thought he could get away with registering it in WA without paying tax.

I would guess the car would be less in Iowa but then again, people do pay sticker sometimes.

[seakid]

I'm gonna be buying a Scion tC which the dealer says has a pure price (sticker price) that cannot be negotiated. He said, other cars can be, but not this one.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by seakid

I'm gonna be buying a Scion tC which the dealer says has a pure price (sticker price) that cannot be negotiated. He said, other cars can be, but not this one.

If I were you, I'd check with another Scion dealer about that non-negotiable price! Also check Consumer Reports.

[scirocco22]

Actually, try Edmunds to see what the TMV (True Market Value) might be.

Ok, I just did ...and you're right, in both locations (I just put in Des Moines for the Iowa location), the tC is selling for MSRP.

So I go back to my original premise. The sales tax will be the determining factor as to where you'll save the most money.

[Ira500]

And you might just spend a lot of gas money driving the car from Iowa to Seattle.
On the other hand, Road trip!